Form a Plan

Develop a vision that includes sustainable funding sources and appropriate technology infrastructure

 

Good news – you have entered the project planning stage! While typically the most intense period of your community’s project, the development of the plan can also be the most exciting. You’ve gathered and solidified your team and its leadership, champions, and stakeholders; defined your community-driven initiative objective(s); developed your initiative’s vision; refined your value propositions; and inventoried the technology infrastructure and assets already in place that may be available for use. Now you’re ready to develop a business case and execution strategy and plan development.

If these undertakings sound overwhelming, don’t worry. You will probably find that you’ve already laid a lot of the groundwork that you need for these more detailed steps. In addition, you probably have the right mix of core team members that can work together to develop a winning business case and execution plan. Also, your plan will be customized to your community and circumstances, so you are free to determine the focus points for your plan instead of being forced to follow a strict formula.

First, it’s important to tackle your community’s business case. This document should highlight the important work you’ve undertaken thus far and add three foundational elements to the plan to connect your community:

  • Return on Investment (ROI) – What is the project’s ROI: For the community? For the stakeholders? For the planned end-users? In the for-profit world, ROI conversations typically focus on financial outcomes such as profit and revenue. The goals and objectives of connecting communities are often more visionary and broad. For instance, ROI can be measured in terms of long-term community-wide job creation, number of new business startups,  or resident satisfaction with his/her community. ROI measures vary from project to project, and should reflect the unique vision, goals, and objectives specific to your community.
  • Project funding – How will this project be funded? Initially? In an ongoing manner? Will it be self-sustaining, rely on private or public donations, or employ a variety of mechanisms? Will you seek a Digital Opportunity Challenge grant from the Knight Center?
  • Financial model – What financial model will you employ? Will network and application end-users be required to pay for use? Will stakeholders or project participants have to invest in the project financially?

All of the issues above—ROI, project funding, and financial models—are very important factors when it comes to the long-term sustainability of your broadband network and the services or applications offered upon it. Once you have the business case firmly in place, it becomes a critical tool to use with potential funders, supporters, the media, and the community at large. The business case identifies your working group and outlines the long-term feasibility of your project. In many cases, this is where communities become to think about permanent governance and operating structures for their broadband networks — two important topics to flesh out in the execution plan.

 In terms of your execution strategy and plan, it’s now time to get to work on this pivotal document. Here you will lay out the goals and details of how you will achieve the vision and objectives you defined in the previous stage. The plan should be multi-dimensional and as comprehensive as possible. Critical components include:

  • Community-driven value propositions — These should refer back to your vision and lay the groundwork for the services and applications you’ve decided to offer.
  • Application/service-driven goals and objectives — These should focus on the applications and services provided via the broadband internet technology (rather than the technology itself).
  • Solid business case — This must outline sound return on investment, financial model, and funding model.
  • Long-term sustainability plan — This plan should not only address ROI, financial and funding models, but also adoption and use (more below).
  • Functional requirements — These are technical specifications necessary to drive the programs and services that will run on your community’s broadband network.
  • Technology plan — This plan includes the detailed design and build-out plan to launch and operate your chosen programs and services. The plan must include all aspects of IT development and maintenance: network infrastructure, access points, hardware, software, etc. If your project involves vendor engagement, the technology plan often provides the access point by which vendors become involved. Whether through a formal RFP/RFI process or through a less-formal bidding situation, vendors can use this document to learn about the technology needs of your project. As such, the technology plan should define the depth and breadth of your project’s potential vendor need so that these potential partners can align their relevant IT offerings.
  • Governance model — This model includes specifications regarding what group or body of people will govern or provide leadership for the network, its operations, and related programs and services in an ongoing manner. In many cases, key members of the project team form a not-for-profit, 501(c)3 entity that provides ongoing governance. Or an existing nonprofit, such as OneCommunity in Northeast Ohio, takes on management this responsibility.

 

 

Next Step: Execute the Plan